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Showing posts from January, 2006

pros and cons

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Most writers tout the value of competition, especially in business. Go to any bookstore and you're bound to find a few books about understanding and beating your competitors, competing in global markets, and so on. But some writers and researchers have described the negative consequences of competition on people and society. In No Contest , Alfie Kohn draws on the work of hundreds of these researchers. He writes that "our struggle to defeat each other - at work, at school, at play, and at home - turns us all into losers" and that competition "doesn't motivate us to do our best...it sabotages self-esteem and ruins relationships."

chess

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I just played chess for the first time in a while with a friend of mine. Chess has a certain purity as a competitive game that has been revered for centuries - all strategy, they say. The opening ritual was familiar. We chatted about rules, strategy, experience. This was the pre-game. Then we took our places. We had one of those chess clocks to keep the game moving. He started it, and became my opponent. We were focused, strategic, invested, tense, relieved, unsure, sure. There were threats, escapes, mistakes, successes, gains, losses. It was exhilarating, like soccer. And again, something was at stake. I definitely wanted to win, and so did he - our faces and bodies were clear about this. It seemed we were either focused on attack, preparing for attack, or evading attack. There was something primeval about it.

rule changes

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With some games, it can be as fun to break the rules as to follow them. Pool: Years ago some friends and I went to a pool hall with only a dollar - enough for one game at a table that took quarters - but we wanted to stay longer than that. So we decided that the object should be to NOT get any of the balls in the pockets. Suddenly it was a cooperative effort - we relied on each other - and we kept the game alive for hours... (until the bartender caught on) Chess: Someone told me they couldn't find all their chess pieces one day, so they grabbed a box of Pepperidge Farm "Chessmen" cookies and played with those. If you capture a piece you get to eat it. And apparently the famous chessmaster Bobby Fischer doesn't like to play for fun these days unless you randomize the back row; this variation is called Fischer Random Chess . Tic-tac-toe: This is a game that begs to have its rules changed. You can start by not taking turns, then changing the goal, or changing th

pickup soccer

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I've played soccer for as long as I can remember, and have come to appreciate it's international nickname, The Beautiful Game. My favorite setting is a pickup game - a random group of players on a borrowed field, who come together from across the globe. Some days I'm sure it's the most diverse gathering in the city. We pass a ball around at first, and it's clear that we've loved the game for a long time - we're dancing, grinning, showing off new tricks. When the game begins, our movements take on a new urgency - we're following instincts, we're quick, focused, clever, deceptive, graceful. We're communicating, sizing each other up, testing each other. There's strategy, teamwork, synchronicity, maybe even heroics. At times it gets ugly... and fiercely competitive. We go from joy to pain to anger and back again. We start to foul each other more, we argue, we teach each other words in new languages. It's clear that something important i